Colour focus wins blue chips

The print industry has certainly come along way since Darren Horrox's grandfather

co-founded a print company, a company that's still going strong today. Nearly 80 years ago, Harry Horrox and Marshal Bridson started up the Isle of Man business that, at the time, focused on providing print for the travel industry.

"My grandfather co-founded the company in 1933 and for a while he worked as a printer in the winter, while running a boarding house in the summer," explains Horrox, who is managing director of Bridson and Horrox.

Such an approach is unheard of today thanks to tighter deadlines and ever more demanding clients. And the company has widened its reach, not just producing work for the travel sector, but also a raft of blue chip companies, many of whom are in the financial sector.

"We are in essence a jobbing printer," he says. "But we also print to a good blue chip client base and work to very high standards."

It's with those customers in mind that Bridson and Horrox has made inroads into picking up a whole host of accreditations needed to impress the most demanding of financial institutions. Having gained environmental and management certifications, the next target is colour: the company is aiming for ISO 12647 with an eye on winning new business and saving time, waste and money. It's already spent a considerable sum getting the latest pressroom equipment.

While the company's heritage dates back to the 1930s, it's the 1970s that cast the die for the success story it is today. Horrox's father was at the helm and decided that it was worth pursuing a new strategy - to provide high-quality print for the financial sector, which had a big presence on the island. Over time, Bridson and Horrox picked up business from the burgeoning industry, convincing companies that there was no need to look to the mainland for print.

Client retention

The strategy paid off. Today the firm has a turnover of £5.5m and a workforce of 49. It's broadened its horizons considerably with a signage division as well as a furniture business. On the commercial print side, Horrox says the company successfully convinced blue chip companies to have work produced locally. However, to retain them, it needs to keep up with the times and show that it has the relevant accreditations that many firms are now demanding. In recent years Bridson and Horrox has been attaining the latest standards and with ISO 9001 and 14001 in the bag, the next focus is colour standard 12647. As Horrox admits, this isn't the easiest to get.

With 14001, for example, there's a clear set of quick wins that a company can implement, but going for the colour accreditation isn't so straightforward - it means investing in kit and adopting a more specialized approach.

"We're aiming to work to a standard that says that the colour on the page is right"

Darren Horrox

In 2007, the company replaced two Heidelberg presses, a CD74 and a SM74, with a Manroland 500. The swap was part of an investment that included new pre-press and finishing kit. "We looked at other presses on the market and felt that this one could reduce costs," says Horrox. "It also gave us the opportunity to go down the ISO 14001 road. It's alcohol free and takes away one of the biggest problems."

In addition, the 500 came complete with Manroland's system for colour management, Color Pilot. This addition has handed the company the tools it needs to get to grips with colour; the early advantage, according to Horrox, is that it cuts the amount of time it takes to get the press up to colour, therefore reducing waste. But the drive towards 12647 has another advantage.

"It takes away the vagaries with the client," he adds. "We're aiming to work to a standard that says that the colour on the page is right. You can reduce the potential for a customer to complain. We haven't had complaints about our colour, but if you're working to a standard then it does close the loop."

The aim is to achieve 12647 by the third quarter of this year. Assisting Bridson and Horrox is the BPIF, which outlined at the start what printers and print management companies must do to secure the accreditation. The firm has opted for the BPIF's UKAS-accredited route and Horrox says that the approach better suited the company.

"We initially looked at going with Bodoni and did a week's course on their system," he recalls. "But the cost was significant. In addition, that meant we had to go down the Fogra route and that wasn't cheap. We decided to wait and as soon as the BPIF were in a position to help we contacted them. We were waiting for them to offer a UKAS standard." And with those early wins, such as a reduced waste and make-ready time, the company has benefited. But one of the other key reasons to push for 12647 has been the clients. Measuring the colour correctly and getting it spot on first time sends out positive signals to the big name blue chip clients Bridson and Horrox is targeting and already has on board. That said the company isn't marketing its colour capabilities just yet.

Upward aspirations

"Once we have the standard then we'll be blowing our trumpet about it," explains Horrox. "But at the moment we don't want to shout about something we haven't got."

The signs are that Bridson and Horrox will get the holy colour grail of ISO 12647 and once it does, the company will be the first printer on the Isle of Man to gain that accreditation. It's a sign of how ambitious the company is that in order to gain work from the public sector, it doesn't even need 12647.

"The Isle of Man government does not stipulate that a printer should have 12647 to win work," says Horrox. "We would be the only printer with this standard and it will give us an edge. We see ourselves as a quality printer."

That approach has helped win work both locally and from the mainland; blue chip clients from across the water have placed work with the Manx firm while Bridson and Horrox has also done well in the public sector. For example, it has won a contract to print ballot papers for Leeds City Council.

On top of that, the company has been able to cope with short-run personalised work thanks to the installation of an HP Indigo 5000 - a machine that Horrox says gives a very close quality to offset. In addition, the company has installed Xerox printers to produce work for the statement market.

All of the equipment installed is designed to adhere to Bridson and Horrox's stringent colour demands. And once it does gain the 12647 accreditation, the company will be able to move forward with even more confidence, safe in the knowledge that it can handle any colour issues from the most demanding of brands. With the latest technology in place to cope with this, it's a very different business to the one Harry Horrox helped to set up back in 1933.